A federal court has demanded that the US Department of Homeland Security reveal its protocol for the use of a so-called “internet kill switch.”

The US District Court for the District of Columbia shot down
claims made by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which
stated that revealing the agency’s capability to use an internet
shutdown plan during “national crises” should be exempt
from public disclosure.

The court said this week the agency has 30 days to release its
records to the public, though DHS can appeal the ruling.
Officials have not indicated whether or not the agency will.

In the court filing obtained by EPIC, the plan is described as an
"emergency wireless protocol...codifying a shutdown and
restoration process for use by commercial and private wireless
networks during national crises." The protocol especially
aims to "deter the triggering of radio-activated improvised
explosive devices."

The DHS responded to the 2012 request by claiming it could not
find the pertinent records.

After an appeal by EPIC, DHS relented and released a heavily
redacted document, citing exemptions that supposedly allowed it
to shield information that could “disclose techniques and
procedures for law enforcement investigations or
prosecutions” or “could reasonably be expected to endanger
the life or physical safety of any individual.”

The district court rejected the agency’s broad interpretation of
FOIA request exemptions and ruled that the DHS wrongly claimed it
could withhold the protocol as a “technique for law
enforcement investigations or prosecutions.”

The phrase, the court said, “refers only to acts by law
enforcement after or during the prevention of a crime, not crime
prevention techniques.”

On July 6, 2012, President Barack Obama signed the Assignment of National Security and
Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions Executive Order,
authorizing the DHS to take control of the country’s wired and
wireless communications - including the internet - in emergency
situations.

The signing was accompanied with little to no acknowledgment
outside of the White House, but initial reports on the order
quickly caused a stir. The Obama administration addressed those
complaints by calling the Executive Order a necessary tool for
America’s national security.

“The [order] recognizes the creation of DHS and provides the
Secretary the flexibility to organize the communications systems
and functions that reside within the department as [Homeland
Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano] believes will be most
effective,” White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden told The
Washington Post.

Hayden added that “The [order] does not transfer authorities
between or among departments.” But the order does indeed
allow the DHS to establish and implement control over even the
privately owned communications systems in the country - including
internet service providers such as Time Warner, Verizon, and
Comcast - if the administration agrees that it is warranted for
security’s sake.

After the signing, EPIC attorney Amie Stepanovich said the DHS
could now “seize control of telecommunications facilities,
including telephone, cellular and wireless networks, in order to
prioritize government communications over private ones in an
emergency.”

“The previous orders did not give DHS those authorities over
private and commercial networks,” Stepanovich added.
“That’s a new authority.”